This invention relates to a pedal parking brake device which actuates a parking brake of wheels of a car or the like and performs the release thereof.
Recently, a pedal parking brake device equipped with an automatic change gear was used in place of a side brake which performs a parking brake by hand. This pedal parking brake device which is shown in FIGS. 12 to 14, when a brake pedal 10 is stepped on, a diameter of a coil spring 11 wound in closely contact state around a core bar positioned at a pivotally supporting portion of the brake pedal 10 integrated therewith is enlarged, whereby brake pedal 10 pivots together with core bar. By this, a brake cable 12 connected with brake pedal 10 is pulled thereby causing a braked state in a brake body (now shown).
When the foot is removed from the brake pedal 10 in this state, a force adapted to return the brake pedal 10 to an original positions acts by a return spring (not shown) of the brake body side. However, since this force acts in a direction to reduce the diameter of the coil spring 11 of the core bar, the rotation of the brake pedal 10 is locked to maintain a braked state. The release of the brake is performed by enlarging the diameter of the coil spring 11 by pulling a release cable 13 via a lock-removing member 14. In other words, when the diameter of the coil spring 11 of the core bar is enlarged, the brake pedal 10 returns to the original position by the action of the return spring of the brake body whereby the parking brake is released.
In this case, a hook portion 11a at one end of the coil spring 11 is latched around a pin 16 in a U-type fixed to a base 15 fixed to the car body.
However, in a conventional art, when the load of the brake increases, the hook portion 11a having a U-type design is pulled to the coil side (see two-dot chain line in FIG. 14), causing the lock to loosen. For this reason, there exists a need in the art to make a brake which can be maintained at high loads.
Further, when the brake pedal 10 is stepped on, the U-type hook portion 11a of the coil spring 11 moves so that the pin 16 slips out. So far it has not been possible to control the movement of the coil spring. Consequently, when the U-type hook portion 11a moves, the lock of the brake pedal decreases.
In other words, the prior art lacks the ability to control the play between the U-type hook portion 11a of the spring 11 and the pin 16.
The present invention is designed to overcome this prior art problem.